


Working, Singing with Glee, and drinking uncontrollably

by Pilarcraft



Series: Tales in a Dreamland [1]
Category: Disenchantment (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-22
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2019-07-01 05:18:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15767397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pilarcraft/pseuds/Pilarcraft
Summary: Sometimes, when he’s at nights, drinking uncontrollably, he tries to leave the haze of Elfwood. It’s often surprising for him, of course, how the others never see it.





	Working, Singing with Glee, and drinking uncontrollably

> _It’s a Ha-ha-ha and a Hee-hee-hee/We’re as happy as we can be  
>  Elfwood is the place we’ll never flee/Our minds are blank but our hearts are free_

Sometimes, when he’s at nights, drinking uncontrollably, he tries to leave the haze of Elfwood. It’s often surprising for him, of course, how the others never see it.

Elfo often thinks about it, actually. Most of the time, it’s in the middle of the work, while he’s putting the ribbon atop the gifts.

Where do the gifts go when they’re done with them? What happens to all the carefully crafted chocolate and candy that they slave away for all day mindlessly?

Elfwood’s gates have never opened. That’s simple fact. The last time they were opened, the humans had barely started building homes. Time, of course, doesn’t pass here as it does elsewhere, so Elfo doesn’t _really_ have a frame of reference for that, but he knows, for a fact, that in the last hundred years that he’s worked in _The Line_ , (at least, that’s what he is told, and he is still a youngster, compared to some) not one person has left. There are legends of Leavo and Returno, but of course, he has never heard of them outside of the cautionary tale that warns him not to venture for the gate.

But if the chocolate doesn’t leave through the gate… then where does it go?

* * *

Elfo doesn’t really speak about it. His fellow elves have a tendency to overreact to unwarranted questions. No, he tumbles for his small home late at night, falls into his bed, wakes up the next morning, fresh and ready for work, and begins working on _The Line_ for the duration of his shift.

He hopes, of course, that the singing, whistling, and working will make him forget about the question. But eventually, of course, it doesn’t.

“well, it’s now or never” He justifies, as he leaves _The Line_ when the sun falls, but tries to follow Lifto, the large and burly but genial elf that lifts the gifts, packages, and boxes of chocolate carried by the bunnies, whistling inconspicuously while trying to make sure he isn’t seen.

He follows Lifto throughout the town. “ _Where is he going_?” He asks himself as he follows the genial elf whistling mindlessly. “Heya Kissy!” Lifto waves with one hand –the other hand holding the twenty-something packages, each of them as large as Elfo- as he walks towards the gate. Kissy, _Elune_ bless her, waves back as she blows him a kiss, having just left her house to the Tavern, which is just across the street. _All houses_ are just across the street for the tavern, which has often made into confusing mornings when he just takes the wrong street after a long night of joviality and debauchery.

Lifto finally leaves Elfwood’s buildings. This far out of the town itself, there is no sign of elven civilization. The trees are too thin and young to be hollowed out into homes or workshops, there are a few pieces of stone, possibly from the wall that separates Elfwood and _Elsewhere_ , tossed here and there, and of course, the terrain is harder to walk on, there barely being a road. Lifto easily walks his way across the dark, looming and –dares he say it- somewhat intimidating trees.

Elfo isn’t as lucky. He’s always been kinda clumsy, and he often fails to take things seriously, so at some point, he accidentally steps on a rock or hits a tree, and begins mumbling uncontrollably, barely stopping with a gasp as Lifto turns around to see what the noise was. Of course Lifto only shrugs, “it’s probably just the wind” he shrugs, and resumes his walking and whistling.

Eventually, he stops in front of the Gate.

Lifto puts down the boxes and pants, “whoo” he says as drags his hand over his sweaty forehead. “that was one heck of a haul.”

Elfo, as well, hides behind a tree, carefully looking at him, and more than that, the chocolates.

He waits. Lifto can’t just leave the chocolates here. Elfo (and the other elves) would notice it if so much chocolate was just left around near the gate. Sure, they don’t venture this far often, but there are still elves whose hiking takes them here, elves who need to use the privy, or any other reason.

Needless to say, the accomplice arrives momentarily. It’s barely gone dark, even if Elfo left his shift at the sun’s dusk and followed Lifto around for an hour or two.

The mysterious elf –oh, but Elfo only assumes- steps on the same stones Lifto did, though his staff seems to aid him. He wears a shroud, walking slowly and steadily. He stops in front of the Large elf and his cargo. “Thank you, my boy!” he says as he pulls back the shroud’s hood.

_It’s the Elf-King_!

Elfo blinks, not really surprised. Wherever the cargo was supposed to go, the King was probably supposed to know about it after all. But nothing has prepared him for what happens next.

“My job here is done” Lifto says, as he turns back towards the trees, “I’m heading for the tavern, sir”

“off to the tavern with ye” the elder elf, possibly the only elf older than Elfo’s dad, waves without paying attention to the leaving Elf. Elfo merely remains silent so that he isn’t seen.

* * *

Once Lifto is gone, The Elf-King looks at the boxes, stacked on eachother neatly. He picks one carefully and opens it, nodding approvingly at the content inside. Elfo has no idea, truly, but he can assume that his own giftboxes, as well as numerous chocolate bags, are stacked neatly inside each box. _The fruit of a long day of labor_ Elfo thinks, curious to see where it leaves from.

It doesn’t leave to anywhere.

Elf-King slowly struts to one of the rocks, and begins pushing it, grumbling and muttering curses under his breath as he barely manages to move it away, only to reveal a…

A _hole_?

The old elf merely pushes the chocolate in the hole, finally sighing. He pushes the stone back on the hole, looks around to make sure nobody’s noticing him –Elfo doesn’t move, in fear of being noticed- and leaves the dark woods the same way Lifto had, a few minutes earlier.

Elfo blinks, still too confused. _There is no way that_ \- he thinks, as he finally leaves the trees behind which he had hidden.

The Elf slowly walks towards that same stone. It takes him longer to do the same thing Elf-King did, and it takes him a lot more muttering, but he does it. “this probably leads to a tunnel _Elsewhere_ ” he tells himself as he laughs nervously. “there’s no way that-“

Wait.

Nope.

The boxes are all down there.

And… there’s more boxes even beneath them. Tens of them, hell, maybe hundreds.

This is where the fruit of their daily labor goes. Whatever they don’t keep for ‘domestic use’, that is. All of it just… _thrown away_.

He’s too shell shocked as walks back to the town and his house, carved into the hollowed tree, but once he’s close to the tavern, as he hears the folk inside sing, he finally understands.

All that they do every day… it is meaningless.

> _We work all day and we sing with glee/ we drink all night uncontrollably_
> 
> _We’re as happy as we can be/It’s a Ho-ho-ho and a Hee-hee-hee!_

**Author's Note:**

> Well, someone had to write something for this fandom. Hopefully, the next installments to this fandom will be of higher quality than mine.  
> Obviously, reviews are welcome!


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